The present invention relates to an agitation device and particularly, but not exclusively, to an agitation device for agitating ingredients in the preparation of food.
The use of agitation devices in laboratories and various industries such as the building industry (where such agitation devices may be used to agitate, by way of stirring and/or mixing, for example, paints, plaster, concrete/cement, etc), the food industry, etc. is prevalent. Such agitation devices are available with numerous shapes/configurations, such as: turbine type; impeller type; cross-beam type; frame type; blade type; anchor type; pitched-blade type; propeller type; helical ribbon type; whisks, etc, and these agitation devices can be manually powered, electrically powered, mechanically powered, and can be driven directly, or indirectly by way of gears.
The type of agitation device to be used is dependent upon the material(s) to be agitated. Whisks are particularly suitable for use in both the food industry and for domestic food preparation and their design facilitates mixing, circulation, cooling, stirring of food ingredients, and can allow air to be introduced into the food ingredients.
In the field of food preparation, agitation devices are chosen not only for ease of aeration and/or mixing of the food ingredients, but also for compatibility with kitchen space, temperature conditions, mixing volumes, the shape and material (e.g. Teflon®) of food mixing vessels, ease of cleaning (e.g. water-proofing or dishwasher suitability), or any combination of these requirements.
Many known agitation devices for use in food preparation, however, suffer disadvantages in that a fairly quick rotary or “beating” action must often be employed by a user in order to agitate the ingredients of a mixture to obtain a desired consistency/texture of the mixture. This action requires a vigorous rotation of the agitation device applied by way of the user flexing and rotating their wrist. In particularly thick mixtures, the force necessary to agitate the ingredients can cause a user to quickly tire due to fatigue in the wrist region and so it can be difficult for a user to maintain a constant speed of rotation of the agitation device. This issue can be a particular problem in the elderly/infirm or those with weaker wrists.
Alternative processes for mixing material(s) employ vibrating means to agitate a mixture to cause mixing of the material(s) therein. These processes can employ oscillations to act on the material(s) of the mixture to agitate the mixture. Such processes may employ vibration devices arranged to agitate vats of liquid, etc. in order to facilitate mixing of material(s). The frequency of vibration of such devices may range from infrasonic, through acoustic frequencies, to ultrasonic. These types of processes and devices are employed advantageously where it is desirable to segregate the mixing element from the substance to be mixed or where use of a mixing element may not be possible. For example, an agitation device in which mixing elements of the agitation device have to be physically inserted into a mixture may require measures (e.g. seals) to prevent contamination of the mixture and ingress of material(s) in the mixture to mechanical and/or electrical components of the agitation device and also egress of components of the device and/or lubricating fluids to the material(s) being agitated. Such measures are often expensive and difficult to implement and often are not completely effective so that they are susceptible to liquid ingress. Therefore segregating a motor and vibration technology from the actual elements to be inserted into the mixture is desirable to prevent such contamination and/or ingress/egress problems.
The present invention seeks to provide for an agitation device having advantages over known such agitation devices.